Ashlee tries for a Natrelmon [Forest]

Ashlee entered an outlet of Pinehearst Industries in Lifan with the intent of purchasing a Relic so she could go in search of a wild Natrelmon. Even if she didn't succeed in catching one, having a practice battle before the tournament would not be a bad idea, since she had never used a Natrelmon before. As she entered the store, Ashlee was amazed with the wide variety of products there. She had never really been inside a Pinehearst store before, having only entered one of their officers to have their Tracker app installed on her PDA.

The shelves were stacked with various Natrelmon-related goods, from potions to experience pills to Relics. There was also an activated Synbot in the front of the store, though it wasn't currently doing much. This intrigued Sparwire, who leapt off of her position on Ashlee's shoulder and flew towards the Synbot. The synthetic Natrelmon looked up at the Sparwire and then looked away, as if it was trying to ignore it. Overzealous trainers and Natrelmon often examined and touched it. Some Natrelmon even launched attacks in jest.

"Sparwire, get back here!" said Ashlee, trying to force command into her voice. ~I'm coming to need to be able to control her if I'm ever going to make it as a Natrelmon trainer...~ she thought. Sparwire reluctantly swung around mid-flight and came to rest on Ashlee's outstretched left arm. Ashlee then brought her arm up to her right shoulder so that Sparwire could return to her former position there. Embarrassed by her Natrelmon's behavior, Ashlee quickly grabbed a Relic E, intentionally not taking much time deciding on what Relic to buy, paid for it, and left the store with N7,500 left.

Ashlee then headed toward the outskirts of Relin with Sparwire on her right shoulder and her new Relic clutched in her left hand. Since there was not a Natrelmon in it yet, the Relic had a plain sphere shape, making it much more comfortable to hold than a statue with many edges. When she left Lifan, she immediately headed for the large group of trees near the city, thinking that there would be many Natrelmon within the forest. Her nervousness made her grip the Relic tightly as she entered the forest, and both she and Sparwire kept alert, waiting for the slightest signs of a wild Natrelmon.

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As Ashlee and Sparwire made their way through the outskirts of the forest, Ashlee heard a twig crack somewhere to her right. Sparwire, having heard it too, jumped off of Ashlee's shoulder and began to face that direction, hovering in the air a few feet above Ashlee's head. Ashlee also turned to that direction. She saw nothing immediately, but maybe there was something behind one of the trees...

"Sparwire, fly around and see what's there," said Ashlee, her voice slightly shaking. She could feel the tension of being alone in the forest, with only her Natrelmon. It scared her, but it also excited her. Maybe this was part of the reason people enjoyed being trainers. Meanwhile, Sparwire rose a few more feet before flying forward rapidly, though not at her maximum speed. Even so, Sparwire's speed surprised Ashlee; after all, Ashlee had never seen Sparwire fly for any reason other than recreation. Sparwire wove between trees, searching for any sign of a Natrelmon, but there was nothing. Disappointed, she turned and returned to Ashlee. Ashlee again reached her arm out on which for Sparwire to perch. Reading Sparwire's lack of excitement, Ashlee said aloud: "I guess there was nothing there after all..."

Ashlee then continued deeper into the forest, opting to keep Sparwire on her right arm than her shoulder so that the two would be more prepared. Less and less light was becoming visible, though the forests around Lifan never became too dark; even so, it didn't scare Ashlee. The forests surrounding Armkfish were much darker and sinister, though Ashlee hadn't spent too much time there. Sparwire could feel the tension as well, and the wires that ran through its plumage began to crackle with electricity. At least she would be ready to attack if they found anything...

As she was walking, Ashlee's foot caught on a root sticking out into the path she was taking. She nearly tripped, but caught herself with some nice footwork; still, she did drop her Relic. Sparwire reflexively jumped off of Ashlee's shoulder and began to hover into the air, while the shock made her inadvertently let loose some of the electricity she had gathered in the form of an Inner Storm. Luckily, it didn't do anything harmful; it only brushed past some leaves on a tree ahead, singing them slightly.

Ashlee straightened herself, only to bend down to retrieve her Relic. "Maybe we should take a break, Sparwire. Relax a little. Relieve some tension," said Ashlee. Ashlee then sat down cross-legged on the ground, resting her back against a tree. Sparwire landed on the protruding root that Ashlee had tripped on and looked up at her master. Ashlee's pink T-shirt and jeans were a little dirty from the trek through the forest, though they had only been there for about ten minutes. More importantly was the stress evident on Ashlee's face. She took care in her breathing, trying to force herself to relax.

I can do this, thought Ashlee. If Aiex got to where she is, I can at least catch one wild Natrelmon. I'll do it for her. She gave me Sparwire. It's my duty to take care of her... and keep her company. Still, Ashlee doubted her capabilities. As much from a lack of something to do as from thirst, Ashlee reached into her bag, which was now resting on the forest floor beside her, withdrew her water bottle, and took a long drink before replacing the bottle in her bag. "Well, I guess we should get moving, Sparwire..."

Ashlee again outstretched her right arm for Sparwire to rest on. She then stood up and began to grip her Relic tightly once more. She continued to walk on the path she had been taking for a few more minutes, though it seemed like much longer, before it occurred to her that maybe that was part of the problem: she was taking a path. Natrelmon probably learned to stay away from paths, and those who lived nearby had probably already been caught or driven away by other trainers. The main thing that gave her hesitation about leaving the path, however, was getting lost. It then occurred to her, however, that her PDA had a GPS on it. She then pulled it out of her pocket to see if she was getting a signal. She was, but it was a weak one. She might lose it if she wondered further into the forest, but there was also a local map on her PDA. Even though it wouldn't tell her where she was, Ashlee would still probably be able to find her way out of the forest.

Take a chance, thought Ashlee, and with that, she left the path and headed deeper into the forest.

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Luckily, Sparwire did see the Ebe, and she let out a loud warning chirp. Ashlee instinctively took a few extra steps forward, and the Ebe narrowly missed her head. As Ashlee moved forward, Sparwire took off from Ashlee's arm, facing the Ebe in mid-air. As it fell, Sparwire instinctively shot an Inner Storm so that the attack would collide with the attack if it continued to fall in the same manner.

Once she decided she was far enough away, Ashlee turned to assess the information and use any spells if she needed to. In the meantime, Sparwire was ready to react to whatever the Ebe might do.

The Ebe fortunately regained it's capacity to fly anywhere other than from the tree to the ground, pulling up in the direction of Ashlee just in time to dodge the shock. It endeavored to go over her head, trying to escape. It's frantic flapping accidentally caused a whirlwind. Just as Ashlee was finishing turning, it would be coming up on her head, whirlwind fully formed and ready to give her the worst hair day in the history of Ebe-Mankind relations.

Dice roll to determine gender.

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As she saw Ebe pulling up, Ashlee shouted "Sparwire! Shock it!"

Luckily, Ashlee was wearing her fedora, so she was able to prevent the brunt of the unconventional attack by simply holding onto her hat with her right hand.

Sparwire was able to make a fairly narrow turn before Ebe had passed over Ashlee's head, especially since the force of the Whirlwind was in fact slowing Ebe down and has also turned it upright, so that its full back was facing Sparwire instead of just its rear end. Sparwire took this opportunity to fire a Shock directly at the Ebe's back while it was still using its Whirlwind on Ashlee. Hopefully, the Ebe wouldn't notice the attack before it had already hit it. If Ebe somehow avoided the attack and continued its escape attempt, Sparwire would take off in pursuit.

The Ebe took the full brunt of the attack and faltered for a moment before assuming full speed and canceling the whirlwind. It then began to take to the sky, attempting to have cover for a moment as it went through the canopy then directly outrun it with sheer speed, but it was unlikely that this would work.

"Follow it, Sparwire, and attack when you can!" At this point in the battle, Ashlee was worried. Sure, the Ebe was weakened, but she didn't want to try to catch it yet, since she only had one Relic. But it was also flying rather high. Sparwire could keep up with it, but its getting too far away from Ashlee would be bad. Still, if Sparwire weakened it enough, she could probably chase it back to Ashlee, and Ashlee didn't really have any other options anyway.

Sparwire didn't even need Ashlee's orders, immediately taking off after Ebe. The Natrelmon would normally be about matched in speed, but Ebe's strength and the damage it had took offset this balance. In these conditions, Sparwire was just a little bit faster. As Ebe was gaining height, however, it took a fairly steep angle. It was at this time that Sparwire chose to launch another Shock at it from behind, since Ebe would again not see it and would probably not have time to react, given the way it was ascending and the now decreased distance between the two.

The Ebe was hit, jolted and shocked, stretched to the limits of it's endurance. It stopped flying upwards, and as it's momentum upward would die, it would begin falling. Falling badly could inflict semi-permanent damage at this current level of weakness.

((One last challenge, though, it's not much of one. I've got at least make it look like it was tough. ))

As Sparwire saw the Shock hit Ebe in the back, she lowered the angle of her flight slightly, hoping to catch the Ebe. She missed on the initial attempt, where she was moving more or less horizontally, but then she lowered her angle more and pulled into a dive. Ebe's angle of flight, luckily, was not too steep, since some of its forward momentum still lasted. Sparwire was on a direct course for Ebe, and she would most likely reach it before it hit the ground. Just before reaching the Natrelmon, Sparwire would open her wings to slow her down and she would then catch the bird in her talons fairly gently. Sparwire would then flap furiously to slow their descent to the ground, and then chirp to call Ashlee. The total exchange would cause Ebe a very small amount of extra damage, but not enough to put it in any sort of critical condition.

Ashlee reached the injured Ebe by falling her Sparwire's calls. She held out her Relic with her left hand and, crossing her fingers with her right, called Ebe into the Relic.

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Ashlee's Relic shattered and suddenly her hopes were dashed. But still, the Ebe lay severely weakened on the ground in front of her. It wouldn't be able to resist...

Several minutes later, Ashlee entered the store in LIFAN, carrying the Ebe in both of her hands, with Sparwire resting on her shoulder. She momentarily held Ebe tightly in one hand to take out the money for another Relic E and drop it on the counter. Luckily, there weren't any customers in line, especially since the clerk was already giving Ashlee a strange look. But still, Ashlee then grabbed another Relic E off of the shelf and tried to catch the Ebe once again.

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